Top Free Password Managers in 2020

4 years ago

When you're sick of recalling passwords for all of your online accounts and programs, you'll definitely consider getting a password manager.

For a password manager, the difficulty of remembering passwords evaporates, allowing you to set difficult, unique passwords for each single account.

We do understand, however, that not everyone has a lot of money to spend, which is why we analyzed the market to find out the best free and secure password managers there. Our recommendations will work across all platforms, and since they are known to be robust in terms of privacy and security-you can opt for these free password managers without compromising your security.

Password managers are fantastic tools for privacy, but even better when they're free! We list the best 5 free password managers in this post. All the services in this post, as well as being fully free, value your privacy, provide great security features and are open source.

The Best Password Managers:

Below we have here a list of the best free password managers. All of these services provide excellent features.

1. KeePass:

This is an open-source project which means any security professional may check the code. However, since it offers end-to - end security, you maintain complete control over your passwords.

It means passwords are not recoverable, so you'll never have to forget your master password. Sacrificing the bit of convenience therefore cements KeePass as the gold standard for protection for password management.

Furthermore, KeePass is highly flexible, has many add-ons available, and gives you complete control over your .kbdx databases. Even though KeePass only stores passwords locally by default, a secure online storage platform allows you to easily share your .kbdx account.

So long as you don't mind learning how to use it, KeePass is a highly customizable password manager that helps you to do everything you can think of with passwords. Admittedly, KeePass is a bit trickier to use than our suggestion number two, Bitwarden, so if you're a total technophobe, it might be better to stick to one of the other services.

KeePass is available for all popular platforms and can be configured to work with browsers using the KeeForm, the KeePass HTTP-Connector that allows you to auto-fill passwords in all popular browsers.

2. Bitwarden:

Bitwarden is available for all common Linux, macOS, Windows, Android , and iOS platforms. Being open source means the program is freely available online for analysis by any security professional. As a result, you can trust this password manager to do exactly what they claim with your passwords.

One of the most important factors when it comes to password management is whether end-to-end encryption (e2ee) protects the passwords. For e2ee only you keep your passwords with the master key, which means they are completely secure. It also means, of course, that if you forget your master password, you will instantly be locked out of the database and all your remaining passwords.

Bitwarden protects all passwords with e2ee which is good for safety reasons. Nonetheless, if you are really worried about being able to recover access to your account (in the event of loss of password), you may want to opt for another service.

Bitwarden provides features for Chrome , Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge and Safari, in addition to applications on all browsers. These extensions allow you to easily add passwords as you log in to your database-and will allow you to easily auto-fill passwords on the fly.

We believe this is one of the best open-source password managers available for free to provide everything you need to store passwords with no worries.

3. Password Safe:

Password Safe is an open-source solution that offers solid end-to-end protection for Windows , Linux, and Android (the pwSafe forks for macOS and iOS are closed source commercial products). This password manager is popular not only because of its excellent features but also because the world-renowned cryptography expert Bruce Schneier originally developed it.

Password Safe is available for Windows, and has Android , iOS, Linux, and Mac clones. You can find most of those clones on the pwsafe website. Due to its minimalist approach, Password Safe for Windows is not hard to use, but a lack of functionality means it won't easily integrate into your preferred browser.

Autofill is available but an easy-to-install extension doesn't work. Where this password manager excels is in the way passwords can be incredibly easily searched and organized. Users can also seamlessly import and export passwords to other password managers.

Cloud sharing is not included in the program, so you need to share your password vault through USB or a cloud platform such as Dropbox. Also included is a password generator which makes it nice and simple to construct robust passwords. Password Safe remains a easy but powerful password manager which is available on all platforms thanks to the active open-source community.

4. LastPass:

This free password manager is a great option for casual internet users looking for both feature rich and free password managers. This password manager would definitely tick a lot of boxes for those looking for an easy-to-use password manager that has all the trimmings. LastPass is available on all devices and offers strong end-to-end encryption to ensure protected passwords. Unfortunately, as is the case with the password managers higher in this list, LastPass is not fully open-source.

Given this minor downside, which may or may not put you off depending on your personal threat model, LastPass is an outstanding password manager that will satisfy most consumers wanting a free password manager.

A single user is granted free access to unlimited password storage, password access on all devices, 2FA, a secure password sharing feature, secure notes, a password generator and a password protection checking tool. These features make LastPass one of the market's most well-rounded free password managers; suitable for anyone who needs an simple solution that works with virtually no learning curve.

Admittedly, over the years, LastPass has endured some bad publicity due to the discovery of some security vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, LastPass was quick to address any issues that security experts had found, which in the course of time led to a better product.

5. RoboForm:

RoboForm is an impressive Free Password Manager. The free edition is heavily featured, and user friendly. RoboForm is available on all popular platforms, and it provides auto-fill extensions on Chrome , Firefox, and Safari. Secure sharing of logins is available-so you can do so via email if you need to share passwords.

Though, if you need password synchronization and 2FA added protection-you'll need to switch to the paid plan. It is worth noting, however, that RoboForm is not open-source-which can put off some people. But this free password manager also impresses when it comes to functionality, and it does have secure e2ee which means you can trust it to protect your passwords.

As long as you need password protection specifically for one system - that's going to be a free password manager that works for you. If synchronization is important to you though-we suggest that you stick to one of the above services.

Frequently Asked Questions

KeePass, Bitwarden, Password Safe, LastPass, RoboForm